Literary Depictions of Urban Life
Literary depictions of urban life capture the complex and often contradictory nature of cities, reflecting both their vibrancy and challenges. Many writers have portrayed cities as centers of cultural richness and dynamic energy, while others highlight the corruption, materialism, and poverty that can accompany urban environments. Notable works include Carl Sandburg's poem "Chicago," which articulates a dual perspective of admiration and criticism. Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" provides a glimpse into the economy and identity linked to the whaling town of New Bedford, while Theodore Dreiser's "Sister Carrie" reveals how cities shape characters' destinies through their naturalistic portrayal.
In the early twentieth century, authors like Upton Sinclair and Frank Norris focused on the struggles of the working class in urban settings, advocating for social reform through their narratives. Richard Wright's "Native Son" starkly contrasts the experiences of African Americans in Chicago's ghettos with the apathy of the upper class. More contemporary works, such as Teju Cole's "Open City" and Kim Stanley Robinson's "New York 2140," explore themes of identity, heritage, and environmental issues within urban contexts. Collectively, these literary explorations provide a multifaceted understanding of urban life, highlighting its challenges and the resilience of its inhabitants.
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Literary Depictions of Urban Life
Introduction
Writers have long condemned cities for their corruption, materialism, and poverty, and writers have long praised cities for their vigor, culture, and drama. When North American writers began to write about cities, they followed the examples of their literary forbears. Perhaps Carl Sandburg’s poem “Chicago” best sums up the two prevailing attitudes about cities in American literature; the poem praises Chicago’s might and accomplishments, denounces its corruption, and ultimately judges the city favorably.
Portrayals of Cities
Herman Melville, although most famous as the writer of novels about whaling and sea voyages, describes the whaling town of New Bedford, Massachusetts in Moby Dick (1851). Ishmael, the narrator, visits an inn that specializes in serving meals and providing rooms for sailors and a chapel that whaling people attended while ashore. The chapel is carved in the shape of a ship, with the preacher standing within, and around the chapel are memorials to all the men from the area who have died while whaling. The identity of the people in the town is linked primarily with its economic purpose.
Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie (1900), set in Chicago and New York at the end of the nineteenth century, is an American novel in which cities are not merely a backdrop for a story that could occur anywhere but a guiding force in the development of the characters and the events that shape their lives. The novel is in the tradition of naturalism, which is a literary style devoted to objective description and interpretation of human actions. Naturalism allowed novelists such as Dreiser to portray city life with unprecedented frankness. Carrie, a young woman from a farming community, leaves home for Chicago to find work and a fulfilling life. There are many scenes of city life in Chicago in the novel, and Carrie meets two men whose destinies become linked with hers. The ambivalence of Dreiser toward the city can be seen in his descriptions of Chicago and New York: he admired the modern American city for its intellectual and artistic life, but he deplored its corruption and neglect of human values.
Henry James wrote of the literary culture of American cities, notably in his novel The Bostonians (1886), which shows the influence of French realism and naturalism in his depiction of the struggle of American feminists. Early twentieth century American writers focused on the poverty and squalor of American city life in novels such as The Octopus by Frank Norris (1901) and The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1906). These are examples of literature showing working-class life in the city and calling for social reform. The Jungle describes corruption and injustice in the Chicago meatpacking industry. A later twentieth-century writer, Richard Wright, shows in his novel Native Son (1940) the helplessness and miseries of life in Chicago’s South Side black ghetto. The misery of the ghetto is contrasted with upper-class white society’s indifference. In the story of Bigger Thomas’ accidental killing of a liberal white woman from that upper class and his subsequent flight, capture, and execution, readers see what Wright means when he says that from birth to death Bigger was the bearer of the deeply ironic status of being a native son. William Carlos Williams’ long poem Paterson, published in five books from 1946 to 1958, shows city life in Paterson, New Jersey, where a doctor and citizen representing Williams travels through it, noting its people, scenes, and history.
In Teju Cole's novel Open City (2011), the Nigerian protagonist is able to reflect on himself, his life, and his heritage by taking walks along the streets of Manhattan and both observing and interacting with the variety of people who inhabit New York City. Meanwhile, Kim Stanley Robinson imagines what New York City and its inhabitants would be like if it has been irrevocably flooded due to rising oceans in New York 2140 (2017). Through this almost dystopian exploration of a prominent city, Robinson tackles themes such as capitalism, environmentalism, and resilience.
Bibliography
Berman, Hans. God in the Street: New York Writing from the Penny Press to Melville. Temple UP, 1995.
Bone, Robert. The Negro Novel in America. Rev. ed. Yale UP, 1965.
Brand, Dana. The Spectator and the City in Nineteenth-Century American Literature. Cambridge UP, 1991.
Elliott, Emory, et al., editors. Columbia Literary History of the United States. Columbia UP, 1988.
Rothman, Joshua. "Kim Stanley Robinson's Latest Novel Imagines Life in an Underwater New York." Review of New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson. The New Yorker, 27 Apr. 2017, www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/kim-stanley-robinsons-latest-novel-imagines-life-in-an-underwater-new-york. Accessed 27 Aug. 2019.